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May 02, 2011

GoogleMapMaker and Osama Bin Laden

As I was preparing another posting about Google Maps MapMaker (coming in a few days) I noticed that there is a lot of user edits/activity around Abbottābad, Pakistan, the site that Osama bin Laden lived and was killed. There are two sites that have been "selected" as likely locations for the compound although it is not clear if either is the actual location. More generally the town of Abbottābad has received many tags and reviews via Google Maps in reaction. Click on some of the placemarks below to get a sense of these.

The embedded map below shows one of the locations (see here for a review of the other location) which is actively being tagged. Some of the tags are relatively terse and factual "SEAL TM 6 OBL Take-Down Site" while other postings are celebrating the event. And since it is the Internet, there is plenty of random flaming and spamming going on as well.

The current state of the site can be accessed below (be sure to click on "What's around here") to see all the tags which will likely be cleaned over time. Also a couple of screen captures of some tags that I saw.